Many existing word forming games such as Scrabble® have letter tiles imprinted with the letters of an alphabet such as English, Spanish, etc. Players randomly select up to 7 letter tiles from a pool of 100 tiles and place the tiles on a board to form one or more words. Typically, players must form a word using a letter tile in a previously formed word. Players may replenish the number of letters previously used to form a word by drawing the same number of letter tiles from the pool of letter tiles at the end of each turn.
The quantity of each vowel or consonant in the pool of letter tiles usually reflects the relative frequency of use of each of the letters in the words of the language. Typically, the number of points assigned to each tile is related to the scarcity of the letter, with common letters such as the letter E being worth 1 point, and less common letters such as Z being worth 10 points. In this invention, there are no numbers on the letter tiles used to form words. The point value of each letter is one point. The number of points awarded for playing a word related to the sum of the letter values for the letters in the word. In addition, the points accrued for each letter in the word may be doubled or tripled by placement of the letter on a “Premium space” on the board which doubles or triples the points based on the value of the letter. In Scrabble®, the number of letter tiles a player may use to make a word in a given turn is limited to seven new tiles. It is often challenging to make a word from these few tiles. In addition, much of the strategy is based on the placement of high value letter tiles on “Premium spaces.” In this invention, there are no premium spaces on the game board, the spaces are blank. The point value of the word or words formed on the board is simply the sum of number of letter tiles in the new word or words formed.
Although it is possible in games such as Scrabble® to add the seven new tiles to an existing word on the board to make a larger word, it is generally less common and difficult to make large words. Short words such as Qi or Za are often used to make the most points in a player turn. By placing these words on Premium spaces, and preferably adjacent to an “I” or “a” on the board such that the letter Q or Z forms triple word scores in two directions. Often players with better word forming skills are frustrated by Scrabble® and similar word games, as the placement strategies often win over better word forming skills. In this invention, all letter tiles have only a letter or blank. The point value of each letter is one point, in contrast to previous art. In addition, each board space is a blank space where one letter can be added. There are no spaces which have the attribute of multiplying the value of the letter or word as in previous art. In addition, in this invention, a larger pool of letters is used. These three aspects of the game apparatus of this invention change the method of game play to one with an emphasis of the formation of large words instead of an emphasis on the points of a letter in the word and the position of the letter on spaces that multiply the letter point value. In addition, in the methods of this invention, a larger number of letter tiles is available for use in each players hand for each turn so that the player can have a higher probability of having the letters needed to form larger words during their turn. Also, in this invention, at the end of each turn, players may exchange unused letter tiles for new ones from the letter tile pool to improve their ability to make large words in their next turn. When taken in combination, the three new features of the game apparatus and two new features in the method of play make five features that differentiate this invention from previous art. On the other hand, those with weaker word forming skills are also frustrated by those with better word forming skills as they consistently lose to the better player and have little chance of winning. In this invention, chance is added so that the probability that a player with weaker word forming skill can win is greater and the player with the better word forming skill, although still more likely to win, will have a lower probability of winning than without chance added to the game. Hence this invention makes the game outcome less predictable and players of different skill levels will be more likely to enjoy playing the game together.
The object of this invention is to make a word forming game that is more enjoyable to both those with high word forming skills and to those with less word forming skills. Further it is an aim of this invention to have a game which allows the players to improve their word forming skills, particularly for larger words. Third, it is an object of this invention to make the game outcome less certain, such that players with lesser word forming skills have a greater chance to win the game than in previous game-forming games. These objectives are achieved by employing particular combinations of game apparatus and methods of play in unique ways. The word forming game of this invention is novel and substantially different from Scrabble® and other word forming games.